CHAPTER FOUR

She sat in front of her dressing table, staring into the mirror with her mind far away. It was the day for her sister's last rite and passage to the ancestral plane. The whole house was quiet, even with people around carrying out different chores. Everyone is in a depressing mood with their mind on the day's event.

Emamaline's pov

I stood up from the stool I was sitting on and went out of my room. I went to Mama's room, knocking on her door.

"Mama, are you in there?"

"Yes," she replied in a small voice.

I walked in and saw her lying on her bed, still dressed in her nightwear. I walked to the bed and sat at the foot. "Mum, you have to get up."

"Why should I? It's not like my little girl will come back to me."

"No, mum, but this will put her soul to rest, or do you want her wandering about because the coven couldn't perform her last rite."

"No." she moaned out. "I miss her. We were making plans to go to Katoka next month for their water festival. Your sister wouldn't stop talking about it, so I decided to take her there. But now she's gone, I won't hear her laugh around the house again."

"Her body might be gone, but her memories live on in us."

"I'm just tired. I'm tired of crying, tired of everyone telling me they are sorry for my loss. It doesn't make it better."

"Mama, when Mico died, you helped me feel better. Remember what you told me. It will get better. The pain won't go away, but as time goes by, it will lessen, and all that will be left is the memories we shared. He was my light (soulmate) mama, and you only get one. If I could keep living my life after his death, so can you."

She looked at me and smiled a bit. "You were a mess after his death; I wasn't sure you would make it. Instead, you just gave up magic for good." She sighed.

"I had to; it hurts every time I tried doing any simple spell. My magic was always singing, with no one to sing back. Giving it up gave me time to mourn and process everything."

"But, did it have to be for 50 years."

"Mother, today isn't about me; it's about Adaline. Besides, we live for a long time, so it doesn't matter the number of years I mourn; the pain never stops, it just lessens over time."

"This is the first time you're talking to me about this. You shut everyone and everything down after his death."

"I know Mama. I know. How about we get through today, and I'll tell you anything you want to know. Besides, if we don't get to that funeral, Adaline might find a way to come back and probably yell at us." I said, laughing.

"Yeah, that's true. You know, Adaline came to me; she was worried you might try to kill yourself. She had these drastic measures we can make use of to keep you on the plane." She said laughing,

I laughed with her because I remember her telling me that too. "See, you're laughing, sharing good memories about her. That's what we should be doing. Telling stories about her not crying over something that can't be changed."

"Ok, I'll go get dressed." She said, standing up from her bed, "and Ema."

"Yes, mama."

"Thank you for talking to me." I smiled at her and walked out of her room. I headed downstairs to wait for her. Once she was done, we moved down to the gathering. I stayed at the back while Mama went ahead to the front. The ceremony continued as planned. Everyone is paying their condolences and saying good things about Adaline.

After a while, I moved to the front with my head covered with my dress's hood. Everywhere became silent as I walked forward towards the altar, holding my sister's casket. I removed my hood as I stood in front of it, looking at my little sister. Tears were falling from my eyes, one after the other.

Later the body was moved to the white forest for her passage to the ancestral plane and afterward to the dome to celebrate her life.

I watched as they all consumed the food when that might be the last meal for some of them. The coughing started, blood coming out of their mouth, and difficulty breathing while the whole celebration was scattered with everyone trying to help the coughing party. While sitting down watching them, it might sound not very empathetic, but they deserve it after what they did to my sister.

Now the crawling begins as the spell compels everything in them to tell me the truth. Everybody turned to me with questions and confusion written all over their faces.

Mater Rosen came towards me, asking, "Emamaline, what is going on? Why are these kids coughing out blood and crawling towards you? What did you do? This is your sister's celebration of life, and you couldn't even give her that. You're causing mischief again, and you haven't been home for more than two days. I demand an answer right now." He yelled out.

His tone sparked every authoritative feeling in me, causing me to yell out. "Remember who you're talking to, Rosen. Watch your tone with me." I said, feeling disrespected. He bowed his head, apologizing, "Forgive me, mistress; it wasn't my intention to displease you."

I stood up, staring at him and everyone. "These kids like you call them, have something they want to say to me, or they are going to experience an eternity of pain and misery. Even if they die, their souls won't be going to the ancestral plane; it's going to the land of the damned where their souls will be tortured for eternity.

I walked forward, grabbing the face of the first person. "Now, Anikoh, you're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to make the next few minutes very uncomfortable for you and your friends.

"I'll tell you anything, anything. Please make it stop; everything hurts."

Mary-Ellen, his mother, screamed, "You're killing him, make it stop." I turned to her, giving her a condescending look, "you will stay out of this, or you're next." I said to her.

"I'm waiting, Anikoh." I turned back to the boy.

"I didn't know. You have to believe me. I didn't know that she would die. If I did, I would have stopped it. I only agreed to help because Zara won't stop talking about it." Coughing out more blood.

"Ema, what's going on?" Mama asked

"These children that is what I'll call you because if you weren't a kid, you wouldn't have done what you did. These children had a hand in the death of Adaline."

The entire coven went up in chaos. Everyone is talking at the same time. I raised my hand, sending a bolt of light up to the roof, yelling, "silence. If I need your opinions, I'll ask. For now, you will all keep quiet and listen."

"May I speak, Mistress?" Mrs. White said. "Yes, you may."

"I think we should all calm down and let the kids talk, but first, let's move them from here. This is a coven's matter, and it should be solved amidst ourselves."

"All right, we can do that."

Mama grabbed my hands, asking, "how did you know they were guilty, Ema?" Adaline told me. "That's how I knew she was dead. She came to me the night she died."

Mama started crying, "why didn't she come to me, I'm her mother."

"It's all right mama, let's go." We left the dome.